what is the best way to store documents in asp.net application

Question

I am developing asp.net application. i want to store documents some where in the file server folder or in the database.

if i use binary option in sql server table for storing the documents,

Is it good way to manage file in SQL server..?

or shall i use directly placed soft copy of the file in file server path...?

pls. advice

Answer 1

Hi @Gani_tpt,

It mostly depends on the size of your files.

• If your documents are typically less than 256K in size, it would be more efficient to store them in a database VARBINARY column.
• if your documents are typically over 1 MB in size, storing them in the filesystem is more efficient (and with SQL Server 2008's FILESTREAM attribute, they're still under transactional control and part of the database)

Best regards,
Lan Huang

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Answer 2

depends on your requirements.

sqlserver has good document support, can store files externally, can be exposed as a file share, full text indexing support, backup.

the most common alternative is a cloud based table store (azure blobs, AWS S3).

Answer 3

One option in SQL Server is to use Filestream:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/blob/filestream-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver16